Students satisfaction with teaching of histology before and after the adaptation to the European Higher Education Area in the ULPGC

Abstract

The guidelines of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have produced relevant changes in the teaching culture which require evaluation according to the European standards for quality. The Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación (ANECA) in collaboration with the local agencies are the official organizations involved in the evaluation of the quality of individual lecturers and researchers for the continuous improvement and adaptation to the EHEA. Most of the Spanish Universities present an evaluation procedure validated by the mentioned official organizations. In the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) the evaluation programme so-called Docentia-ULPGC is in effect since 2008 and the student satisfaction surveys are key tools in this programme. However, the ULPGC had conducted student satisfaction surveys on the lecturer´s teaching activity since the nineties. The present study aims to compare the students´ satisfaction before (1999-2007) and nearly after the introduction of the EHEA (2011-2017) regarding the same lecturer in equivalent subjects (mainly of the Medical Degree) belonging to the same area of knowledge (Histology/Cell Biology). We used institutional data on the student satisfaction surveys regarding the same lecturer of histology-related subjects which were available for the academic staff at the ULPGC website. These data consisted on 408 surveys obtained during the adaptation to the EHEA (academic years 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2016-17) and 362 surveys collected during the pre-EHEA period (academic years 1999-00, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2004-05 and 2005-06). First and second year medical students and first year physiotherapy students participated in the surveys on the last day of class and before the ordinary examination sessions. Summary statistics (sample size, average and standard deviation) regarding four teaching-related factors were evaluated by the students: 1) teaching methods, 2) lecturer´s attitude, 3) evaluation process and 4) lecturer´s global score (all factors included). These four factors were compared between both periods using the T-Student test for paired samples and equal variances or the Welch´s T-test for paired samples and unequal variances. F-Snedecor test determined the equality of two samples variances. The statistical significance was set at <0.05. The students´ satisfaction was acceptable before and after the introduction of the EHEA since the average scores for all mentioned factors ranged between 3.55 and 4.13 on a 5-points scale. The evaluation of the teaching methods was significantly better (p=0,02) during the EHEA period whereas the lecturer´s attitude (p<0.0001), the evaluation process (p<0.0001) and the lecturer´s global score (p=0.0003) were better during the pre-EHEA period. In general, there was a good level of students´ satisfaction during both periods indicating a suitable teaching activity with independence of the educational model. The improvement of the teaching methods during the EHEA period may be related to the accumulated teaching experience and updating. However, strategies and resources related to the lecturer´s attitude and evaluation methods are necessary for a more effective adaptation to the EHEA model and to improve the student´s satisfaction in the future.